How realistic is this to do?

[pennywit]

Convert Skull and Shackles to Starfinder Pirates?

Arrrrrrr ... IN SPACE!

[Dragonchess Player]

As far as general themes and structure go, it sounds like it would be a decent candidate. Any "wretched hive of scum and villainy" can be used as the setting; the ships and weapons (and loot) may change, but the overall goals (earn plunder and fame, become pirate lords) are pretty much the same; etc.

A lot of work will probably have to go into changing many of the details, though. It may be easier just to use it as inspiration for a personalized campaign, rather than attempting an actual conversion.

[pennywit]

I got the Starfinder Rules. I'm not sure I can convince my players to go for it, though. Still, I've got this image of a campaign out in that asteroid belt, moving between the Pact Worlds, exploring ancient temples, and searching for the Legendary Lost Treasure of Golarion.

[John Napier 698]

Space pirates have long been a tradition in Sci-Fi and Science Fantasy that I'd be very disappointed if no-one actually did this.

[Goddity]

If you put your mind to it, I'm sure you could manage it.

[John Napier 698]

Pirate bases usually have shipyard facilities for repairs, because visiting legitimate ports would present an unnecessary risk. Especially if said ports have a Naval presence. If you have it, GURPS Traveller: Spinward Marches has a section near the back describing Pirate bases.

[Tacticslion]

Personally, I had been looking at doing a mythic variant set in Castrovel among the lashunta off the coast of the ever-stormy seas near Soyvarian (acting as a stand-in for the Eye of Abendego)... but now Starfinder has dropped, so I instantly began rethinking, you know, everything, and considering pretty much exactly the same thing...

[jabberwoky]

Thematically, it works just fine. If you want evidence of it, just look at Fantasy Flight Games's "Star Wars: Edge of the Empire" or their "Rogue Trader" rpg. Pirates and space work just fine.

As for crunch-wise? It depends on how much work you want to put into converting characters, classes and equipment.

Lastly (and this is my own opinion), I thought the story to Skull & Shackles (as written) was rather weak. So some re-tooling of the story may also be in order if you want to adapt the adventure path.

[Chuckbab]

What I intend to do is use Starfinder's far superior starship combat rules and adapt them to use instead of the clumsy Pathfinder's naval combat.

[Cuup]

I think the biggest translation issue will be the fact that the Shackles is an archipelago - a bunch of small islands. What's the outer space version of that? An asteroid field? Most islands are brimming with communities and social-potential. Asteroids are not. I don't think expanding the Shackles into its own solar system would work either - will the PC's win their own PLANET in book 4? I've read nothing about Starfinder, so maybe I'm missing something, but this feels like a big hurtle - the island chain was one of two defining elements that let the Shackles play host to a nation of pirates without fear of being crushed by the larger neighboring countries; the other being the Eye of Abendego, but that at least is easily translated as say an electrical storm in space. The Shackles marked the boundaries for the AP's sandbox. Without having something similar, you need to figure out a way to let the players roam free, but only within a specified area, and you need a reason why an organized force hasn't swooped in and crushed this pirate problem. And, that reason probably shouldn't just be "because the pirates are too strong", because then why haven't the PIRATES swooped in and taken over the organized force?

I do really like this idea, and I agree with everyone else that space pirates is an obvious yes, but I don't think pointedly adapting Skull and Shackles into space will be as easy as that.